Jonny Simpson

Cumbrian Man’s Delight After Bodybuilding Competition Success

A man with cystic fibrosis has won a “best torso” body-building competition after 200 female admirers voted for him online.

Jonny Simpson 25, of Penrith, has won Mr Elite 2012 wowing hordes of women with his washboard abs and toned mid section.

The competition was organised by Penrith gym Elite Fitness on Gillwilly Road, with female visitors on the Facebook internet site invited to “like” their favourite torsos.

Jonny, of Grove Court, said: “I am buzzing. Six years ago I wouldn’t even take my shirt off on holiday but now every area of my life has improved. I’m living my dream and this has given me a lot of confidence.”

This is the first competition he has won although he previously achieved third place at the National Athletics Committee body-building competition in Manchester.

Jonny has won £100 of body-building supplements of his choice. He said that he hopes this will give him the edge when he comes to enter body-building competitions later, including Total Warrior and the athletic category of Mr Universe in Manchester in November.

Jonny, who became the first cystic fibrosis sufferer to enter a body-building competition, said: “Body-building saved my life and that’s why I have such a passion for it.

“I wasn’t supposed to be alive into my twenties but years later I’m living my dream.

“I have put on muscle and kept the same body fat. I have doubled my lung function.”

Jonny trains several times a week at various gyms and eats 6,000 calories a day, including plenty of complex carbohydrates, fresh fruit and vegetables and lean protein. He offers free training and advice to other cystic fibrosis sufferers.

Jonny was born with cystic fibrosis, a chronic genetic condition which clogs the lungs with sticky mucus and makes it difficult to put on weight.

As well as a twice-daily nebuliser to administer medication directly to his lungs, he takes about 40 tablets a day to help him manage his condition.